Today's FFT - Welcome to RENO!

As the little ticker shows at the top of my blog, I have 4 more days until I go to Reno for my annual National Writer's Convention for RWA - the Romance Writers of America. Every year it is held in a different city. Last year was in Dallas, the year before was NYC, next year's will be in Atlanta, but I will probably forego that one to go to Scotland. Yes, I said Scotland (with a side trip to Ireland!) One of my dear friends, who is just unbelievably beautiful and outrageously funny and one of the most genuine and kindest women I've ever known is getting married in the town where William Wallace was born and lived and asked me to come. Ladies, she is one of those really DISGUTINGLY perfect women that you would just love to hate but can't b/c she's so damn genuinely nice and endearingly clumsy at times. I will post more about her and the wedding at a later date.

Anyway, this year we are at Reno. I have never been there. Never been out of the 48 contiguous, never been west of Colorado or New Mexico. This will be a real treat for me! Expanding my horizons, so to speak. If any of you have been to Reno, or live near there, if you would like to let me know what neat things there are to do there in the limited time I will be there - little time for actual sight seeing - please feel free to leave your insight in the comments.

This FFT is not an actual Friday Field Trip this week in the same sense of the past FFT's. This week I am going to show you a couple tidbits about Reno and where we're staying. So it's a "virtual" trip this week.




Population: Reno: 180,480

Known as "The Biggest Little City in the World"

Temps for July: Highs in high 80's-high 90's with occasional triple digets, lows in mid 50's - low 60's. Humidity typically is in the teens so my hair should do just peachy!



Housed in the shadow of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Reno Hilton, also known as a Caesars hotel, has become northern Nevada’s most complete destination resort. A stay in one of the 2,000 rooms offers access to premiere restaurants, headline entertainment, a mini-mall, family-friendly activities, and endless recreation. And, of course, there is also 115,000 square feet of heart-pounding casino action 24-hours a day.





There are several cool things to do at the hotel, but I think this just might be my favorite one:


Create your own decorative housewares at our in-house ceramic studio where you can paint each available object yourself. Pre-made housewares and collectibles are on hand, waiting for your inspired finishing touches. Clay Quest provides the paint required to turn these ordinary items into personalized works of art! With plenty of space to stretch out and work, we’re happy to accommodate large groups or craft parties.

FEATURES:
Pre-made ceramic objects
Full spectrum of painting colors
Available craft supplies


This one is a little less up my alley, but still cool:


Hop in a half-scale NASCAR replica racer and take 30-mph turns around a 400-foot oval racetrack. Or try your luck in a more traditional, open-topped go-kart on a 900-foot road course. Luckily, it's not all about speed at this piston-friendly park — a family-oriented track is also available where the go-karts go slower and the turns aren't as extreme. So strap on that seat belt and get ready to roll!

FEATURES:
3 separate race tracks of varying difficulty
Bumper cars
Snack bar
NASCAR replica racers and traditional open-top karts
Speeds can reach 30 mph

They also have a 50 lane bowling alley:

As Reno is home to the National Bowling Stadium, it’s fitting that we offer one of Northern Nevada’s top bowling centers. Providing 50 professional-caliber lanes, this Adonis of bowling alleys is open around the clock.

Certified USA Instructors are on hand, available to provide private lessons. Fun and full-featured, meeting rooms, a pro shop, a cocktail lounge, and a snack bar are all lane-adjacent, so you never have to leave the game for long. Computerized scoring removes the point-keeping headaches, so you can relax and concentrate on rolling that Turkey!

And, other than the pottery place, the other thing I'm most excited about is JOHNNY ROCKETS! I've never been to one but hear about it all the time on shows, etc. I can't wait to go to this one. One of the specialty chapters I belong to is going to be meeting there as a "get to know you" thing since it's an online chapter:


A burger and fries with a song on the side? The good-spirited gang at Johnny Rockets is known for belting out a few a capella songs while they prepare all of your American favorites.

I don't leave until Tuesday and I probably won't be updating while I'm there unless one of my roomies has their computer with them. Any advice? Suggestions on where to go and what to see while I'm there? Once again please share them in the comments.